February 9th, 2018

Lots of news today, mostly good I think. When Hal caught up with me for lunch he mentioned that he'd have a meeting with housing about Simon. After work Hal was there to pick me up and he took me out to eat letting me know that Simon was being moved. Which is great news, and will open Hal's apartment up for the time being. He won't have any say over his next roommate, or even when he gets one, so he may have the place to himself for a day, or for the rest of the year. Housing wasn't able to give him any answers.

The news media finally had a new development with the vigilante. Not anything that stopped their speculations, just that he'd been spotted last night chasing down a mugger. So we know he's still in Denver, and police are maintaining their warnings about him being dangerous and to be avoided. Especially considering the mugger is in the hospital for cracked ribs and a concussion.

The other big news item is that it seems people have finally gotten used to the tree in LODO. Protester crowds have been thinning over the last month since the last incident at the tree with the vigilante. So much so that walking traffic is common. Even the crows that were there have thinned, and they're not bothering people as they walk through. Today police started allowing traffic through, cautiously, in order to help relieve traffic on nearby streets. I haven't heard any reports of the crows attacking vehicles, or drivers trying to hit the tree.

I don't know, it's like these things have become accepted, normal.

Hal and I also confirmed with everyone for dinner tomorrow. Since Simon will probably still be moving out, we won't gather at Hal's place. Instead Max suggested we do Mexican for a change noting that there was one close to the museum where we could get fantastic margaritas. Personally I think she just wants the margaritas, but I could be picked up easily enough after work and head straight there.

So, that's the plan tomorrow evening. Sounds like fun.

February 8th, 2018

I had intended to ask Max about it, since it wasn't exactly hidden that Sam was spending the night with her during the eclipse. But it's been made official that she and Sam are something of an item tonight. I saw "something of" because they're not dating, Max admitted this to me separately. But like tonight, Sam invited her to join us for dinner. They sat together and acted like they were dating. Which is to say they were cute together. When Max was giving me a ride home, she was eager to brag about Sam's... endowments... shall I say. Which was a bit more than I wanted to hear, but it's never stopped her before.

Max said that he was happy to go through the motions, but that he couldn't commit. Which means mostly that while they're screwing around I guess Max can go find someone else to date. I'm not sure how I'd feel about that. But Max, and I love her, is a bit on the shallow side. As long as they're both okay with it though, I guess that's between them. And I do wish them both happiness.

All that said, everyone was curious about my dinner last night with Hal's parents. Candace was asking for details all day long. As happy as I am to go over things, there's only so much detail that can be wrung out of 'em. And then when Max joined us for dinner, she wanted the run down all over again.

Both of the girls though were happy to reassure me that not being in college wasn't a bad thing. Especially since I was trying to save up for college. Max was quick to remind me how expensive her own tuition was going to be.

On the other hand, Max was also eager to talk about what had happened on Tues with the vigilante. She'd done some digging of her own concerning his feet of strength, and had come to similar conclusions as me. Both of us were thinking that the guy would have to be as big as Sam, and when he noticed us staring at him he finally responded, "What?" Max asked, in her sweetest voice, "How much do you think you could push?"

His commission must be burying him, he wasn't at all aware of what's been on the news all day for the last two days. Even with us talking about it in front of him. I feel bad for the guy to be that busy, but he seems to enjoy it. When we'd finally brought him up to speed on what all was going on, Sam finally answered that he'd never really tested to find out his limits. That while he was sure he could move even a large vehicle while it was rolling, it was a much different thing to move a vehicle that was on it's top.

Candace's response was to invite him to join us at the gym and we could test him in the weight room. Sam didn't seem to like that idea very much. With a glance, Candace dropped it, and Sam said simply that he didn't have the time. I don't think Max noticed Sam's look, but I did. And it reminded me instantly of all the concerns I've had about him and Candace.

One of these days I'm going to have to start prying.

Anyway, as far as the news story's gone today's been more analysis of what happened on Tuesday. We know more now about the car thieves, which is all fine and good. But officials haven't been able to find the vigilante. They were even trying to bring in dogs today, to no result. For so little to have developed, it's amazing to me that they were able to spend so much time on it today.

But thinking of Hal, I asked Max if she'd heard anything more about Melia interviewing college students. She said she had actually, that Melia had been at the Women's college yesterday. Which is right next door to Hal's campus, and might just be as close as he'll get to her.

February 7th, 2018

What a night! I hate to be "that girl" who in this case eats so little. But I was so nervous that I didn't have an appetite. I hope they don't think I didn't like the food. It was a little heavier than what I usually eat, but Hal's dad knows how to grill. He, Laurence, smoked a tri-tip rubbed with pepper and spices. Hal's mom, Deborah, made scalloped potatoes, coleslaw, and we had peas to the side. And for dessert they served cherry pie a la mode. It was heaven.

They were kind and generous, and asked lots of questions. I wasn't sure how much Hal wanted them to know, so I let him describe how we got to know each other and started dating. He told them we'd been getting dinner each week and talking, he just didn't mention what we were talking about.

One of the things I was nervous about was them finding out I wasn't in college. But they were both supportive of me working at the museum while I saved up for college. "Especially with how expensive higher education is these days." Laurence works in a lab where they're trying to develop a bacteria delivery system to help deliver medicine to specific areas of the body. Deborah on the other hand is a science communicator. She's currently involved with helping to raise awareness of the local tribal heritage and history. I remember Hal mentioning that she was his guiding star towards his current major.

I didn't realize how quickly time had passed, and then it was time to go home. It was enjoyable, in a way I'd describe it as professional. Not uncomfortable, Hal's parents went out of their way to make sure I was comfortable. In fact, they didn't serve wine or beer knowing I couldn't drink any myself. They were good enough to not make a point of doing so either, I've had people do that to me before. But I saw that they had a small selection of wines, and there was beer in the 'fridge. I suspect a meal like that would typically have wine for them. I wouldn't have minded if they did, but it was thoughtful of them not to.

I just remember the times Hal's been here. We're so much more casual. Dad dressed down after work, Mom wearing her apron. We don't have alcohol, not just for me, but for Dad it's more religious conviction that he'd been raised with. Just very different cultures.

It's a good thing that I'd asked Candace to help me pick out an outfit. I wouldn't have known what to wear, but if I didn't have Candace I'da probably have shown up under dressed or prepared for an interview. Candace was able to pick out a nice skirt and blouse combo that was perfect. I'm always wearing slacks for work, and jeans when I'm getting around town. It was nice to wear a skirt for a change. Even Hal mentioned that he hadn't seen me in a skirt before. I might have to wear em more often. When the weather warms up.

Candace and I met at the gym again, without Hal of course. She was excited for me when she learned I'd be meeting his parents. She joined me while I got my hair done in addition to my other chores. And then came home with me to pick out my outfit. And then she wished me luck and said I'd have to tell her everything tomorrow.

Max was also supportive, over texts. She wanted pictures of every outfit I tried on and had comments for all of them. She was also keen to talk about the news report last night, and on every channel today. Even while Candace and I got lunch, they had different TV's on to different stations, both talking about the vigilante's car ride last night. I think that was one thing that struck me the most about Hal's parents. Their TV was off the entire time we were there. I don't think I've ever seen our TV off except when the power's out.

All in all it was a good day, a nice night.

February 6th, 2018

I'm kinda stuck as I'm working on things right now. Trying to get all my tax stuff in order and can't find the right link I need to get the document I'm supposed to have. So I'm taking a break from that and writing my journal a little early tonight. Maybe I'll be able to find the link I need when I get done.

Hal was very attentive to me today. As expected he wasn't going to be able to pick me up to hit the gym before going to work. So he made sure to call and we chatted during my bus ride there. He wanted to make sure I was okay, and that he'd heard back from the housing department concerning Simon. They've received our report and are looking in to it. About as politic an answer as they can give, but at least its an acknowledgement that Hal's request has reached them. Hopefully something will be done, though I can't imagine they wouldn't.

When I saw him at lunch, he said he'd stopped in to housing to check in on the and make sure they knew he wasn't going to drop this. He got pretty much the same answer, but the point was to make sure they knew it wasn't just a random request. Hal said he was on the pleased side of neutral about the visit. He also stopped by his place when he knew Simon would be at class and grabbed what items he needed. He also brought me my coat, I had left that behind when I ran. Everything was still in it, thank goodness. I had to borrow some money from Mom this morning since I didn't have my bus pass.

But while he was there, since he's staying at his parents place for the foreseeable future, he said his parents had invited me to diner tomorrow evening. I always hear how nervous the guy is at meeting his girlfriends parents for the first time. I don't think I've ever heard how it can be nervous for girls too. For the guys, it's all about being protective of their little girl and how he's seen as a threat. For me, at least, I'm worried about how they'll see me. If I'm good enough for their little boy.

If Hal is any indication, I'm sure it'll be fine. I'll just keep repeatin~

Channel 4 just had live coverage of the vigilante clinging to the roof of a car as it was speeding down I-25 through Centennial toward Castle Rock. Dad hollered out so loud he startled me and I ran downstairs expecting a fire or something. There's no word on how the vigilante got on top of the car, but the reporter confirmed that the vehicle was stolen out of a parking lot at the Alameda/Havana Park and Ride. The police were chasing the vehicle with the vigilante hanging on, and the driver was all over the road. It seemed like he was trying to shake the vigilante off.

I don't know how long I watched that until the car finally clipped someone and rolled. The vigilante was tossed into the barrier between lanes. It looked like he hit hard, but he got up quickly. Quickly enough to get pinned by the now upside down stolen car as it slid into him. There were four police cruisers with them at that point and they came to a stop surrounding the car. All the police jumped out, pulling their guns and shouting. A couple of guys were crawling out of the windows in the car. With everything that was going on the vigilante was just about forgotten.

There was stunned silence, from everyone, as we watched the car get pushed away from the barrier by the vigilante. It was on its top, upside down, so it's not like the car was rolling. He was sliding the car away from him. For all that, he did stumble out from being pinned. But once he got out, he shook himself off and glared at the two who had crawled out of the car. They'd been pretty defiant towards the police, but after that display they both threw their hands into the air and dropped to their knees.

Some officers approached the two guys and started putting cuffs on them. But they were also watching the vigilante and started shouting for him to get down too. He made some gestures in frustration, which made the police nervous. To be honest, with all the shootings that've been happening I'm surprised they didn't open fire then. But the police didn't back down and kept shouting for him to get down. He turned, vaulted the barrier and tore off across the far lanes and off into the countryside. The oncoming traffic had been stopped, so there wasn't any danger there, and the police did take a few shots at him. But he managed to get a small hill between them which forced the police to stop shooting. By the time a cruiser on the northbound lane could catch up he was gone.

He's strong. There's no doubt about that now. I know things were working in his favor; how slick asphalt can be, that he was sliding the car rather than lifting it. But he was also pressed against the barrier. It's not like he could set his feet and push whole body. That was purely upper body, probably just his arms. Just looking real quick, cars like that are around thirty five hundred pounds. A very strong man might be able to do that, but I'd expect them to look... like Sam. This guy, is not small, but he's not built like that.

As impressive as that was, he had just been pinned by that same car as it slid into him and the barrier behind him. The car wasn't coming to a stop just before him, it hit the barrier hard. How he was not crushed by that is incredible, but he could have gotten lucky. How he could push the car away from him is jaw dropping, but people have been known to perform heroic feats in those kinds of situations. How he could run away afterward is beyond belief. And yet, we all just watched him do that.

I'm not entirely sure what to think about this. Considering what we think is happening, I think it's fair to ask if he's even human? And if he's not, what is he? Is the deer mask even a mask?

After all that though, I'm not going to finished doing taxes today. I've got time to work on 'em. Tomorrow though, I wasn't planning on much. But if I'm going to see Hal's parents, I think it's long over due to get my hair cut. Maybe I can get Candace's help picking out an outfit too.

February 5th, 2018

I had another dizzy spell this morning. It was at work, but with how not busy we were there weren't any issues. Only four days since my last one though. I hope they're not becoming more common again. I'll have to mention this with Dr. Laurie when he gets back to me about my results.

Missing persons cases and the news stories surrounding them have been everywhere today. I don't think I could have avoided them if I'd wanted to. But it's like people have been taking it to heart, the museum felt like a ghost town today. They even offered to let me go home early, since I'd had the attack I took em up on it.

Let's see, there've been multiple boats in the Gulf of Mexico that have failed to return to dock as planned over the last two weeks. Coast guard hasn't found any evidence of wreckage, or adrift vessels. There's a lot of space out there, but for as many have gone missing it's hard to believe nothing has been found for any of them.

Also ships failing to return to dock along the south western coast. Mostly small craft, but one container ship is also listed as missing.

Up in Canada they've also started noticing a similar trend. People out camping in the unseasonably warm weather. Some scientists failed to check in and when a search party was sent to their base of operations it was found abandoned. No sign of what happened to the scientists.

Missing people all across the US, even into the pan handle of Florida. There was even a report out of Juno, Alaska.

News agencies suspect there's been a similar trend down in Mexico, but it's hard to filter out these cases when there were already a lot of cases of missing persons. But they have noticed that there's been an increased stress between suspected criminal organizations. If they're missing people, they might be getting paranoid.

So yea, things have just been getting insane, and I was happy to retreat to Hal's place. I did text him asking if I could come over early since I was out of work. I knew he'd be in class, and he offered that I could sit in and take part. But I didn't feel comfortable with that in the middle of a lecture. So when I was close, I texted him and he meet me outside to give me his key.

Conscious of his roommate, I knocked first just so that I wasn't walking in on him. But since there was no answer I let myself in and made myself comfortable. I didn't think anything of it, and Hal gave me permission. But when his roommate came home, he hit the roof finding me there. I don't know what his issue is, but he called me every nasty name he could think of. I still have some of those words ringing in my ears. And I've had people be mean to me, use my ethnicity against me, or my gender. This was something else. He called on those aspects, but there was something personal about it, like I was invading his personal space or something. And the guy's twice my size easily, everything about him was aggressive. I don't think I've ever been as scared as I was today.

I was out that door as soon as I could, which wasn't soon enough. When he started he was blocking the entrance and I had nowhere to go. I tried to retreat to Hal's room but he made to cut me off. It gave me the opening I needed and I shot out that door like there was no tomorrow.

I was in tears when Hal found me sitting outside his classroom. And someone must've called campus security because while Hal was trying to comfort me they pushed their way in between us, as if Hal was who I needed protection from.

When things finally calmed down and they let Hal come to me, we made a formal report of what happened. Hal said he would do everything he could to have his roommate reassigned, and if not he'd happily start looking for somewhere else to go. Either way, as long as his roommate is there, I don't want to go anywhere near him.

Instead we called up Max and invited her to dinner with us. Once she heard what had happened, she dropped everything.

Just thinking over it, I'm shaking. And some of his insults didn't even make sense. Not that they need to, but towelhead?!? I mean seriously.

I've gone over it enough between security, and Hal, and Max. I just wish Hal was here. I'm worried what Hal might do, or what Simon might do. Hal said Simon was usually pretty calm and nice, and he'd never said anything about me. At least, not me specifically, he did seem pretty concerned about Hal having sex outside of marriage. As if that's any of his business. Though that might explain the succubus and temptress words that were hurled my way.

Hal didn't want to stay at his place tonight either. But he couldn't stay here, of course, so he's spending the night with his parents. It's so far out of his way though that I won't see him tomorrow morning.

Enough, I've wrote it down. Now it can get out of my head and maybe get some sleep.

February 4th, 2018

Work was so busy today that my day flew by and I didn't have the chance to stop and think about things. Which considering everything we went over yesterday is probably a good thing. Even since getting home, I've been avoiding the news for fear of what I'll hear next.

What it means though is that I don't have a whole lot to write about today. I did have Hal's company this morning and at lunch. He seemed a bit stressed, but it was about homework rather than Tim. I think that's good at least, but if Tim wasn't so gun ho about training him tonight though he could have spent the time working on homework. I don't know, even if these guys are the real deal, I sure hope they're paying Hal well to put up with this crap. Considering Hal was talking about getting his own place though, I suspect he is getting paid well.

Tomorrow's Monday, so it shouldn't be as busy. I'll find out then what I missed.

February 3rd, 2018

Hal just dropped me off after our conspiracy dinner, and the shit has hit the fan. This morning we all woke to the news stations finally starting to report on the disappearances as being more than isolated incidents. Of course, this was triggered by the most recent disappearances. Sometime in the last two days the towns population of Albany, Wyoming disappeared. The entire population, all gone. And the reason we're not sure when this happened is because it wasn't discovered until out of town relatives were having a hard time contacting those that lived there. They called, left messages. When they weren't getting any response, they called known work numbers and left more messages. Still didn't hear any response. So they finally started calling local officials, then county and state officials. Those officials also started calling locals without response. They finally sent someone to physically check out the town this morning and that's when they discovered the town was empty.

Given what evidence they can find, they suspect the people disappeared by the morning of the 31st. Vehicles were parked at home rather than at work with bedside alarms still going off. Local businesses hadn't updated dates for the new month, and there were no time card punch in or outs for the 31st or later. There's also no evidence of the people walking away. One official is quoted as saying they may as well have disappeared in their own beds.

As if that wasn't stunning enough, Sam finally brought something to the table as well. He said a buddy of his had mentioned that hunting this year wasn't going so well. So he started looking into wildlife reports. What he found was that agencies all around the four corners were reporting significantly lower game populations than expected. But there's also been a reduced number of wildlife encounters, and almost no reports of wildlife in settled areas. It's as if people aren't the only ones disappearing, and the wildlife seem to have been disappearing in greater numbers. Considering how the estimates are based, officials have been looking for corpses and at first suspected poachers. But the numbers are too high to be so explained, and there have been no corpses or any other evidence that would confirm those suspicions.

Which, considering the earliest disappearances were individuals or small parties out in the wilderness, that makes sense. But for an entire town to disappear? And granted, it's an out of the way town with a listed population of maybe 60 people. But compared to two people out hiking in the woods, that's huge. And it more than doubles the number of missing individuals altogether.

But the news media is also reporting a shocking number of people being found. Most have no legal identity, don't speak any recognizable language, and all wearing basic fiber clothing. As opposed to modern cotton weaves. And considering those traits, that is a hell of a coincidence. A lot of these found persons weren't listed in news media as much as they were listed in police and hospital reports. Which is how we missed them. It does make me wonder about Jane though, she's similar to the others in that there's no record of her existence and she had similar clothing on when found. But she does speak English, with an accent that I don't recognize. Are all the rest of these people amnesic? Would that have anything to do with crossing the ohvau? That'd make Hal all the more lucky that he didn't get amnesia. I just wish I could've brought these points to their attention. I wouldn't have, I did promise Sam and Candace, even if Sam wasn't there.

That said, some of these people who are being found are like the girl who was found in Dinosaur National Monument, Amy Shaun. Former missing persons, most who had been missing for years, are showing up all around the country. Now granted, I'm talking about maybe ten people, so they aren't showing up in anywhere near the same numbers as those who're disappearing. Even the numbers of unknown persons who are showing up doesn't compete. So on the whole we're losing population. As if a balance would make things better.

So while all this has been going on, Max brought to our attention an incident involving our deer headed vigilante. This time it was an altercation with a bike gang, and video was captured showing him lifting one of the bikes (a Harley) and throwing it across the street. A couple of the bikers were beaten pretty severely, but they managed to chase him off with gun fire. Reports can't seem to confirm whether he was hit, but again there's been no reports of anyone checking into a hospital with a gun wound. This happened just last night. There's also no clear cause for the incident.

Those were all talked about after Sam got there. Before he had arrived, Max and Hal were asking how I was doing and wanting to know more about what I'd seen. For some reason I still haven't admitted to them that the lady was there all the way up till when Sam found me back outside. I don't know why Sam hadn't mentioned that, and I haven't had the chance to ask him. But it's also made it easy to fail to mention that I'd talked with her.

Though Max did coax out of me that she was practically naked. Hal was good enough to keep his mouth shut.

Trying to divert attention away from me, I asked Max if she'd heard about Melia interviewing college students. She said she had, so they started making plans on trying to get Hal and her together so Hal could finally report success to Tim. It was while they were talking about that when Sam showed up with barbecue. I've tried barbecue chicken before, but I've never had the pleasure of actual barbecue from an actual barbecue joint. I couldn't believe how good it was, and here Sam and Hal were both saying it was "alright." If this was "alright" I'm curious what they would call good.

Though I was amused when both of them warned about the spicy sauce. They've never tried my Dad's jungle curry.

I'll leave off on the food so it seems like I had a good night. In all reality though, I'm scared. If a small town is going missing, what's next?